Scott Wykoff's Blog

Monday, March 7, 2011

Put Em Up

Any Ravens fan knows that he's a hard hitting safety. Just ask any running back or receiver he has popped as a defender for the purple and black.

Tom Zbikowski packs quite a punch both on the field and in the ring.

Now he wants (once again) to make a name for himself as a hard hitting boxer.

While he's know to his Ravens teammates as Zibby, Zbikowski goes by the name Tommy Z in the ring.

On Saturday night in Las Vegas, he will take on Richard Bryant (1-2, 1 KO) in a four-round heavyweight bout on the undercard of the “Relentless: Miguel Cotto vs. Ricardo Mayorga” world super welterweight championship fight.

CLICK HERE for info on how you can watch the fights from Top Rank on Saturday night live on Showtime PPV

Exchanging blows in the ring. What a way for a punishing NFL defender to get some R&R during the off season.

Zibby says he has been waiting five years and counting down the minutes for March 12th.

You see it was 5 years ago when Zbikowski made his professional boxing debut at Madison Square Garden, knocking out Robert Bell in just 49 seconds. It was the last time he climbed into the ring.

Tom Zbikowski signed with the Ravens in 2008. That means he was a professional boxer before he was even drafted by the Ravens out of Notre Dame.

"It was my top moment in my athletic career and a moment that I feel like was yesterday to me," says Zbikowski. "I remember everything about that night. I remember the locker room, the fight night, afterwards. It was a lot of fun. It was a hundred rounds of sparring for 50 seconds of fighting, so I’ve been itching and itching to get back to fighting.”

Tommy Z (1-0, 1 KO) is a former Chicago Golden Gloves finalist who first laced up the gloves professionally while still attending Notre Dame and playing football for the Fighting Irish.

When he climbed into the ring on that memorable night in NYC the Notre Dame fight song blared over the speakers at Madison Square Garden.

What about his boxing name Tommy Z?

"I’ve always just gone by Tommy," said the Ravens safety when asked if he was going to stick with the nickname. "When I start boxing full-time I’ll get a real nickname. I’m waiting for a boxing writer to just give me a nickname for boxing because I’ve never had one and I’ve always looked forward to having one. I can’t be a self-proclaimed whatever. So I’m just waiting for a nice nickname to stick.”

So what do the Ravens think of all of this?

“Well actually they gave me a tender as a restricted free agent, so technically and legally there is nothing that can stop me from fighting on March 12," said Zbikowski on the afternoon the Collective Bargaining Agreement was extended another week during the NFL labor talks.

"I’ve let Chuck Pagano, my defensive coordinator, know. With all the talks going on now there is really no one that can say no to me. I’ve just continued on in the training and hope that they would respect my decision, which I think they have and they will because they know of my past fight at Madison Square Garden and that I was a professional boxer before I was a professional football player.”

It sounds like a bunch of his Ravens teammates will be in Vegas on Saturday night when he climbs back into the ring.

“I talked to them the other day. It’s just great to have the support of other athletes and guys that were on your team who have that respect for you and not only talk about, ‘Hey, next time you fight we’re going to be there.’ But now it’s actually happening. Guys like Ed Reed, Dewan Landry, Chris Carr, Dominique Foxworth. They’re all going to be there. I know Paul Kruger and Haloti Ngata will be driving over, too. I’ll have to have Haloti do the hawk before he walks in. If (Bryant) sees Haloti in my corner there’s no way this guy’s fighting me. We should have a good representation from the NFL.”

Hall of Fame boxing promoter Bob Arum is a big fan of Tommy Z.

“As long as he is available to fight we plan to keep him very busy whether it’s once a month or every two to three weeks," says Top Rank CEO Bob Arum ahead of the the “Relentless: Miguel Cotto vs. Ricardo Mayorga” world super welterweight championship card he's promoting. " He’s been off for awhile but our matchmakers feel like he can compete at the top level of boxing at cruiserweight, so we’re going to keep him as busy as his schedule permits. Obviously, once they have to go back to training camp, we will be back on hiatus again. But as long as he’s available, he will be kept very, very busy."

Who knows, if the NFL labor talks drag on and if there's a lockout, Tommy Z could be available for a few more trips back into the ring before he takes to the gridiron again.

And get this.

On Twitter, Tom Zbikowski has now challenged AFC North foe Chad Ochocinco to a boxing match.

Zbikowski Challenge -- In all seriousness, Top Rank and I would like to extend an invitation to Chad Ocho Cinco and his agent to make this fight happen... Dear Ocho Cinco (I won't call you Johnson cause you only get one name change in my book), thanks for following me.

Ochocinco Response -- "you wana go nite nite, you want to box me, for 1 your feet are to slow and you've no hand speed to even be competitive".